Credit the Bruce Arians and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for not sitting on their laurels. Fresh off of their world-beating Super Bowl LV win, the Bucs opted to shell out big money to keep their entire roster intact. Brady is back on board, and essentially cosigned the Bucs’ decision to get the gang back together by restructuring his contract to allow for them to spend.

Coming into the 2021 NFL draft then, all the focus has been on the top 10-16 picks. This is one of the most loaded offensive draft classes of all time, with at least five first-round-rated quarterbacks and a boatload of value playmakers. Most would expect Tampa to sit tight, get some depth here and there. After all, they own the last pick in the first round, so what waves could they expect to make?

Well, drafting the heir to the GOAT would definitely do just that.

Despite Tom Brady’s contract being extended for a few more years, the Buccaneers’ head coach stated that he might not be against taking a potential successor somewhere in the draft if the right talent falls to the Bucs, according to Greg Auman of The Athletic.

“If the right guy is there that we think is a developmental guy that has the upside that outweighs every other position of those five or six guys that we’re looking at, then we wouldn’t be against it,” he told reporters.

This does make sense in a vacuum. At the end of his contract, Brady will be in his mid-40’s, and at some point, the Buccaneers should start looking to the future. Sure he’s proved himself to be ageless thus far, silencing all doubters with a resurgent 2020 NFL season, but time is undefeated, right?

Besides, those aforementioned top five quarterbacks will likely be gone by the time the Buccaneers’ pick rolls around. Which is absolutely fine. Mac Jones, Trey Lance, Justin Fields, Trevor Lawrence, and Zach Wilson are rated as the most NFL-ready quarterbacks in the draft, and if Bruce Arians is going for a project, he’d be better going off seeing what Kyle Trask is doing later on.

But if Trey Lance or Mac Jones just so happens to tumble past all of the teams that need a quarterback, who knows? Both are seen as the biggest projects out of the five, and who better to mentor them than the GOAT himself?

By the way, if you’re worrying about Brady getting ‘self-conscious’ with a youngster around like he did with Jimmy Garoppolo, don’t be. Arians is nothing if not honest and fair as a player-driven coach, and the two’s bond is definitely at an all-time high after the Buccaneers won the Super Bowl.

If nothing else, Buccaneers fans should be pleased that their team isn’t willing to just stand pat.